| Directed by | Brett Ratner |
| Produced by | Roger Birnbaum, Jonathan Glickman, Arthur M. Sarkissian |
| Written by | Screenplay: Jim Kouf and Ross LaManna Story: Ross LaManna |
| Starring | Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker, Tom Wilkinson, Philip Baker Hall, Mark Rolston, Tzi Ma, Rex Linn, Ken Leung, Chris Penn, Elizabeth Peña, Clifton Powell, Julia Hsu |
| Music by | Lalo Schifrin |
| Cinematography | Adam Greenberg |
| Editing by | Mark Helfrich |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
| Release date(s) | September 18, 1998 |
| Running time | 97 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English, Cantonese, Mandarin |
| Budget | $33 million |
| Gross revenue | $255,300,000 |
| Followed by | Rush Hour 2 (2001) |
Rush Hour is a 1998 action comedy film and the first installment in the Rush Hour film series. Directed by Brett Ratner and starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, Rush Hour was a major success and became the 7th top grossing film of 1998, with a gross of over $140 million dollars at the U.S. box office.
Plot
On the last day of British rule in Hong Kong, Detective Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) of the Hong Kong police leads a raid at a shipping bar wharf, hoping to arrest the mysterious crime lord Juntao. He finds only Sang (Ken Leung), Juntao's right hand man, who manages to escape. However, Lee successfully recovers numerous Chinese cultural treasures stolen by Juntao, which he presents as a farewell victory to his departing superiors: Chinese Consul Solon Han (Tzi Ma) and British Commander Thomas Griffin (Tom Wilkinson).
Shortly after Han arrives in the United States to take up his new diplomatic post in Los Angeles, his daughter, Soo Yung, is kidnapped on her way to her first day of school. The leader of the kidnappers is none other than Sang. Shortly after this incident, the FBI inform Consul Han, who calls in Lee to assist in the case.
The FBI, afraid that the injury or death of Lee would result in negative attention, pawn him off on the LAPD Captain Diel, who gives the assignment to Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker), an overconfident, average looking, and arrogant police officer with aspirations of joining the FBI. Captain Diel gives him a choice: keep Lee away from the investigation or face two months suspension without pay. Carter reluctantly agrees, secretly intending to solve the case himself.
Carter meets Lee at the Los Angeles International Airport and then proceeds to take him on a sightseeing tour of Los Angeles, simultaneously keeping Lee away from the embassy and contacting several of his underworld informants about the kidnapping. Lee finally escapes Carter and makes his way to the Chinese Consulate, where an anxious Han and a group of FBI agents are awaiting news about his daughter. While being reprimanded by Agent-in-charge Warren Russ (Mark Rolston), Carter manages to accidentally involve himself in a phone conversation with the kidnappers, where he poorly arranges a ransom drop.
After their arrival at the agreed drop point, Lee tries to warn the FBI that something is amiss, but is ignored until a bomb inside the building is detonated, killing several agents. Spotting Sang nearby, Lee and Carter give chase, but Sang escapes, dropping a strange detonator in the process. After showing it to Carter's colleague, LAPD bomb expert Tania Johnson (Elizabeth Peña), they learn that Juntao was behind the kidnapping. Following a lead to a restaurant in Chinatown, Carter is captured after going in alone, though he sees a surveillance video of Juntao carrying Soo-Yung into a van. Lee arrives and rescues Carter, and they are met outside by the FBI, led by Russ, who blames them for ruining the ransom exchange. Sang phones the consul, angrily telling him that the ransom has been increased from $50 million to $70 million, and threatens to kill Soo-Yung if anything else goes wrong. Disgraced and guilt-ridden, Lee and Carter are ordered off the investigation, and Lee is informed that he will be sent back to Hong Kong. Carter refuses to drop the case and confronts Lee on his plane to enlist his help, and the two men decide to save Soo-Yung together.
The final confrontation comes at the opening of a Chinese art exhibition at the Los Angeles Convention Center, which Han and Griffin are overseeing, while the ransom is being delivered. Carter, Lee, and Johnson enter disguised as guests. After Carter recognizes Griffin from Chinatown, he creates a scene by alerting the spectators about a bomb threat in the building and tells them to evacuate. In the confusion, Lee sees Sang handing Griffin a detonator identical to the one he and Carter had previously recovered, deducing that Griffin is Juntao. Griffin/Juntao then threatens to detonate a bomb vest attached to Soo Yung if the delivery is interrupted. During the stand-off, however, Carter and Johnson rescue Soo Yung and bring the bomb vest within range to kill everyone inside the exhibition. In the ensuing gunfight, Carter kills Sang and Johnson defuses the bomb attached to Soo Yung. As Griffin attempts to escape with the ransom money, Lee pursues him up several sets of maintenance ladders. During the pursuit, Lee and Griffin fall over a railing, but while Griffin falls to his death, Lee is rescued by Carter.
Han and Soo Yung are reunited, and Han sends Carter and Lee on vacation together to Hong Kong. Before Carter leaves, Agents Russ and Whitney offer him a position in the FBI, which he refuses. The film ends with Lee and Carter enjoying their flight to Hong Kong.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rush_Hour_(film)
1998 films | American films | 1990s action films | Action comedy films | Martial arts films | Buddy films | Police detective films | Films directed by Brett Ratner | American action comedy films | New Line Cinema films | Films shot anamorphically | Films set in Los Angeles, California | Films set in Hong Kong
